Michelangelo Sistine Ceiling Meaning

The Sistine chapel was built between the years of 1475 and 1483 in Vatican City and is named after the pope who had the chapel built, Sixtus IV. One of the most impressive things about the Sistine chapel and one of the most famous works of art in history is Michelangelo’s painting on the ceiling of the chapel. The project was completed using fresco. In 1508 Michelangelo was requested by Pope Julius II to repaint the chapel. The Chapel at the time was painted with a blue sky and gold stars. Pope Julius II original request was to have the chapel painted with the twelve Christian Apostles and when the project was completed Michelangelo had created more than 3,000 figures. The ceiling was created depicting nine stories from the bible’s book of genesis, including the “The Creation of Adam”, the most famous panel of any.

Michelangelo’s depiction of The Creation of Adam is a masterpiece intricately incorporated into the massive collection of frescoes work located on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In his research article, An Interpretation Of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam Based on

Michelangelo’s art, which relied heavily on the human body reflected the Renaissance Period’s interest in humanism and the individual experience. Michelangelo often studied the human anatomy, and even looked at and dissected corpses. Great examples of this are two of his earlier sculptures; the Pietå and the David, revealed his true talent and also his disposition to bend rules of anatomy and proportion i the service of greater expressive power. His ability to portray humans in the Renaissance Period, which was his great talent, showing the values of the period though his sculptures and paintings, which appealed to the people of this period. Arguably his most well known work, the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which was painted to show humanity’s need for salvation offered by God through Jesus.

One of the most effective principles Paolo de Matteis uses in this painting is his use of lines and invisible lines to direct the viewer’s attention to the child in his mother’s arms. The shepherds and their animals, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Joseph are all instances of invisible lines in this painting, as their outstretched hands and lines of vision are all pointing to the baby Jesus. For example, the three women and the child kneeling to the bottom right side of the manger are all staring or pointing to the upper left, toward Jesus. Moving to the upper right corner of the painting, the ox and the donkey are directing their gaze to the bottom left, once again at Jesus. The two men to the right of the animals also point in that direction. In the top and center, Mary and Joseph watch their child, creating yet another invisible line pointing toward the point of emphasis, while the angels

In the painting Christ’s position shows his willingness and ability to heal the elderly man. His left hand is lifted the shelter of cloth the man is under, literally shows that Christ can lift the sick and heal them or can lift the burdens which befall them. Christ’s right-hand gesture is inviting and shows his love and willingness to help toward the elderly man. The elderly man’s hands are starting to reach up towards Christ, trusting and accepting his help.

In the painting, Eve stands by an evil serpent and is falling for his lies and charm while eating an apple. On the other side of the painting, Adam is holding the apple that he received from Eve. Adam and Eve are naked in the paintings, which represents their purity and innocence. They do however use leaves to cover the private areas of their body. The paintings were made to be life sized. Both, Adam and Eve are shown to be tall and muscular. Durer did not put too much detail in the background because he did not want the background to be a distraction from the beauty of Adam and Eve. Adam appears to be hesitant in the painting, with his right hand open in an almost defensive kind of matter. Eve on the other hand looks like she is trying to persuade Adam of something. The painting is an example of implied time and motion because these actions are being implied and it is hard to know for sure what the actual motions will continue to be, all we know for sure is that both characters have different things on their mind by the way they are holding their bodies and their facial

Aside from linear perspective, Calabrese incorporates other geometrical forms throughout the composition. One is the circle at the foreground of the painting, which Calabrese offers the audience to complete. More outstanding is the triangle that occupies the majority of the space. John’s body, parallel to his staff, begs the viewer to trace the triangle from his eyes, across the woman and the lamb in the foreground, up the staff, and through to his hand. This triangle is significant in its symbolism of the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Son. The message here is clear; through Jesus, the lamb, one will be saved. It is also interesting that Calabrese places John between the lamb and his hand. It coincides with the paintings’ function as an altar piece in that John serves as an intercessor to the Divine. Through him, one has access to Jesus, and therefore God. The geometrical lines and shapes add to the painting’s dynamism and contribute to the optimistic promise the painting conveys.

You could also notice implied lines in the sacrificing scene below God. Most of the people in the middle of the image are looking in the same direction. That direction being toward the sacrificial lamb. It could also be seen in the two sections of the work to the left and right of the scene with the lamb. There are soldiers and other people that also seem to be looking toward the lamb.

‘The Holy Trinity’ (fig. 1) was a fresco painting created in 1428. It is currently in the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella, in Florence and was believed to have been commissioned by the Domenico Lenzi and his wife. It is both a religious and secular painting. It portrays the Trinity of God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Ghost, which is symbolized by a white dove. Masaccio uses a scientific approach by creating an illusion of space within the painting. When the viewer walks into the Santa Maria Novella, they are confronted by a painting that looks realistic but is quite strange. ‘The Holy Trinity’ simulates a real

The lines connecting Adam, Eve and the serpent as well as the distinction, or lack of, between them and the snake in Cranach’s and Michelangelo’s paintings shows where they place the

The painting also uses perspective lines to draw your attention to the center of the painting towards Christ, and Christ and two of his followers on either side of him form a perfect triangle. These spacial and perspective understanding were really perfected in the Renaissance and really aid the painting.

Vittore Carpaccio’s symmetrical input truly served it’s purpose. Focusing on the center third of the painting, there’s a mere perfect symmetrical contrast of life and death top to bottom. Most impacting is the symmetrical division of the malnourished and tortured body of Jesus Christ, The left side of his body is in a lively sitting posture on the throne. While his right side is the embodiment of death, his punctured ribs and dangling arm. From the ground up, Carpaccio illustrates the contrast of life and death with minimal details in the painting. The supporting stones of the throne, directly below the arm rests, are divided by breakage, the left stone is cracked and falling apart, while the opposing stone appears to be intact. Vittore Carpaccio managed to capture the cycle of life with many elements one wouldn’t think of comparing life and death with. The top left portion of the throne is a half broken, followed by Jesus’s deadly posture to the falling apart ground stone of the throne, Death is captured in a very recognizable minimalistic form.

Paul is in the foreground, Caravaggio used foreshortening to emphasize viewer on his character. His raised hand seems to be reaching to touch not only God but viewer as well.

They have slightly different meanings as well. The third theory claims that the couple is not who we think they are, but cousins of the original figures. The final theory states that the painting was made in remembrance of the wife who passed away during childbirth. The hands shown in the painting represent the transition into the afterlife of the woman. The man’s right hand symbolizes farewell because it is raised. His other hand is setting the woman’s hand free as she transitions into the afterlife. I find this theory interesting because it depicts a much different mood than the others because it is much more sad dealing with death and afterlife.

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in a way follows a similar pattern. When the ceiling is divided it is done so in a series of squares, triangles and circles. There are three zones to the ceiling division. The lower zone where very little light is received is defined by De Tolnay as "peopled by a race enduring variations of the human condition". According to Fleming, the middle zone is a mix of Old Testament prophets and some pagan symbols that "have knowledge of the Divine and mediate between man and God". The contrast of the pagan symbols and biblical prophets suggests a idea which is not completely Christian. The use of prophets and pagan examples side by side kind of suggests that Michelangelo was looking at the qualities they shared as